As a national resource for molecular biology information, NCBI's mission is to develop new information technologies to aid in the understanding of fundamental molecular and genetic processes that control health and disease. More specifically, the NCBI has been charged with creating automated systems for storing and analyzing knowledge about molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics;facilitating the use of such databases and software by the research and medical community;coordinating efforts to gather biotechnology information both nationally and internationally;and performing research into advanced methods of computer-based information processing for analyzing the structure and function of biologically important molecules.